Begged Me For Rejection, He Regretted

Against Her Will

The Alpha seems to want to hand Lilith the parchment, but stops at her words.

His insightful eyes land on Lilith like sharp nails, making her skin sting. She knows it’s the power of a high rank pressing down on her, and she knows her request upset the Alpha.

Joining a pack is no joke. Nor is taking in a rogue, even by an Alpha.

He asked for her consent when he took her in. He held the ritual of taking her wolf into the mindlink web. And now, only three months later, she is asking him to undo everything. It's outright contempt from her.

Lilith bares her neck at the Alpha to show respect.

After a long, cold moment, the pressure is finally fading. Taking a relieved breath, Lilith takes a peek up, to see the Alpha waving his hand lightly and Alfred left at his gesture.

“No, you can’t,” The Alpha smiles at her.

Lilith’s heart drops. She knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“But I can give you this instead,” The Alpha raises the parchment for a slight wave, “I think this might change your mind.”

“I would really rather just leave,” Lilith says with the softest tone she could manage, “I’m not suitable for pack life--”

“You don’t know what this is yet,” The Alpha hands over the parchment, “Take a look.”

On the parchment are some complicated runes making the shape Y. On the top of the two branches are two blotches of dark red, on the lower end, an amaranth stain, more purple than red.

“Two drops of blood, forming one bond,” The Alpha says gently, “it belongs to Orion and Hannah.”

Lilith shoots her head up in shock--

It’s the blessing of Orion and Hannah! The moon goddess’s blessing from the pack witch!

“Why is it purple?” Among the million questions like why give this to her and how did the Alpha know, Lilith chose the least important one to easy the shock. She needs time to think.

The Alpha chuckles at her odd choice of a question, “Blue, purple, red, golden. The fourfold of how well two souls match. The score is just to make it easier for measure.”

“But it says 90...” Out of 100. Lilith looks puzzled. Why would purple be 90 if it’s a fourfold system?

“Well, 90 is the lowest standard for a match to be accepted for an Alpha blood,” The Alpha seems to have answered, but Lilith doesn’t feel like so.

“Okay...? So why is purple 90?” Lilith blinks with a blank face, and this time the Alpha laughs out loud.

“I guess it’s because someone altered the score, to make way for...love.”

The Alpha lets out his Alpha aura again upon saying the last word. He wants to see her reaction, and he didn’t miss the bitterness in her eyes.

So Orion and Hannah’s souls don’t match well enough, but they altered the result just to be together.

How noble.

Lilith puts the piece of paper back on the table, “...okay, I don’t see how this would change my mind.” If anything, she should make room faster for their love that even the moon goddess herself couldn’t break.

“If you tear it up, it would stop existing,” The Alpha smiles with a calm tone, as if he didn’t just hint her to commit a crime.

Lilith lets out a bitter sneer.

Sure, she can tear up this blessing. But what about the next? She could tear up all the blessings Orion would ask for Hannah, but could she tear up their love?

From the moment Orion chose Hannah, their fate was already written.

“Thanks, Alpha,” Lilith bows lightly to him, “I would rather lose a mate, than bond myself to pure hatred. Please, all I ask for is my freedom.”

She doesn’t want to bear even another second seeing Orion and Hannah together.

She loved him since she could remember things, literally. She might have let him go, but the cut on her soul still hurts.

The Alpha is smiling, but there is a shade of recognition that Lilith didn’t comprehend.

“Okay, let me put this straight,” The Alpha puts the parchment back in its pile, “I’m not going to let a little powerful...healer go, just because my incompetent son cheated on her.”

Lilith’s ears burn. She is not a healer.

She lied to the Alpha that she is because the Lady told her not to let anyone know about her blood’s secret. Wolf healers could share their life energy through touching. She can’t. She can’t even tell herbs apart from weed. All she can do is feed the patients her blood and hope it can cure whatever their injuries are...

“I mean...”

“Unless you lied to me,” The Alpha adds before Lilith could say anything, “Do you know the penalty of such a crime?”

The Alpha’s tone is not strict; rather, it sounds like he already knows the truth. But Lilith couldn’t tell, nor did she dare to test it out.

“No...of course not, my Alpha,” Lilith lowers her eyes.

“It’s settled then,” The Alpha cleans up his table and stands up, all postures shouting that it’s time for her to leave. He walks her to the door, but doesn’t open it, “Like I said, my injury needs to remain unknown, so I can’t reward you in public.

“But,” The Alpha raises a finger to stop Lilith from interrupting, “Next week is the Red Moon Feast. As a tradition, there will be a fighting competition and rewards for winners. A reward even I can’t decline.”

Lilith bites her lips to seal her objection in. So if she could win this fighting competition, then she could have the Alpha’s approval to leave the pack?

That’s...doable.

***

Standing in front of the window, the Alpha is still smiling long after Lilith left.

“Do you think I’m horrible, Alfred?” Asks the Alpha suddenly. The soft rustle of movement around him came to an abrupt halt.

“Because you are keeping Miss Lilith against her will?” Alfred says with a tame smile, “Because you misled a little orphan girl who saved you? Because you didn’t tell Miss Lilith that the reward you can’t decline is not for anything, but only to claim any unmated wolf in the pack? Or because--”

“Your answer is heard, Alfred.”

“No, you are not horrible, my Alpha,” Alfred’s smile widens, “It’s Miss Lilith’s own fault, if she doesn’t have a friend circle to find out what the most important pack tradition is about.”

The Alpha glares at Alfred, but Alfred looks back righteously. In the end the Alpha gives in: “I want Knox to have her, Alfred. But there is only so much I can do. Okay?” The Alpha lets out a heavy sigh, “This is only for your ear and this room. You know what Elena would do to her if she finds out.”

Luna Elena...

That name efficiently shuts up Alfred.

Shocked for a moment, Alfred falls into a heavy silence along with the Alpha.